The Guru Granth Sahib is the most authoritative scriptures for Sikhs,
it is considered to be the word of God, the first Guru - Guru Nanak
declared that anything he declared was declared under the
authority of the creator, God.

The Gurbani (Bani of the Guru) is very easy to understand and contains
countless anecdotal references and analogies. Although various English
translations of the Guru Granth Sahib are available - as well as
Punjabi translations, the form and content of the Guru Granth Sahib
remains unchanged. Sikhs are unanimously agreed upon keeping the
original form and content and where there have been attempts to alter
this, these have been met with great resistance and opposition.

The Language

The Guru Granth Sahib is written in its entirety in Gurmukhi which
translated means from the mouth (Mukh) of the Guru. Gurmukhi was
developed by the first Guru and then promoted by his successors, it
was a language spoken and understood by all classes of people, the
Guru hoped for the scriptures to be accessible by all. The Guru Granth
Sahib also contains hymns which are written in a language known as
Sahiskriti as well as Sant Bhasha, it also contains many Persian and
Sanskrit words throughout. Though the language was known as Gurmukhi,
recent political problems in India have led it to be officially known
as Punjabi.

The Form

The Guru Granth Sahib consists of 1430 pages, It begins with a Bani
known as the Japji followed by the Sodar. It then resumes sections
each known as a Rag - Musical composition. Within each of these Rags,
the Bani is presented in Chronological order of Guru, followed by the
Bhagats. Following the 32 Rags, a section known as the Rag Mala
completes the Guru Granth Sahib. A check appears throughout the Guru
Granth Sahib, the check states the number of verses in the current
shabad, the number of shabads in the current sub-section, the number
of sections in the current Rag etc. It causes for difficulty in
anybody wishing to alter the Guru Granth Sahib as most changes in the
way of additions or removals of lines can be detected by scrutinizing
this check figure.

The History

Some record is believed to have been kept of the first Guru's Bani
during his time - most probably by his companions - Bhai Mardana
included. Baba Buda and Bhai Datu - both followers of the Guru are
also recorded in history as having kept records of the Guru's Bani.

When Guru Angad was enthroned as the second Guru, he was given
five paisas, a coconut and a 'pothi' - a book which it is believed had
within it some of the hymns of Guru Nanak - this Pothi is not
available today. This pothi might also have contained Shabads of the
various Bhagats of that sub continent - such as Bhagat Kabir and
Bhagat Farid - both of whom had great followings.

The Mohan Pothi

Guru Angad bought together the Bani composed by his
predecessor, and recited them to Bhai Paira Mokha who scribed these to
form another Pothi. This Pothi was passed to Guru Amar Das Ji when he
was bestowed as the third Guru and in his time he also sought to bring
together the Bani of the preceding Gurus into one Pothi. He
commissioned the services of his grandson Bhai Sahansar Ram to this
effect and recited the Bani to the scribe.

This pothi was kept by Sahansar Ram and was later passed to his father
- Bhai Mohan. It henceforth became known as the Mohan Pothi. During
the compilation of the Mohan Pothi, Bhai Datu and Baba Buda - both
contemporaries of the first and second Gurus were asked to recite
those Shabads that they had come to learn by heart, many more it is
said were collated from pieces of paper and from the Pothi handed down
from Guru to Guru.

It is said that Bhai Datu had in his possession a Pothi which
contained many Shabads of the first Guru. The Mohan Pothi is in two
volumes, the first volume is 600 pages and the second 448. It is in 14
sections and contains the Bani of the first three Gurus and Bhagat
Kabir, Bhagat Trilochan, Bhagat Nam Dev, Bhagat Sain, Bhagat Ravi Das,
Bhagat Jai Dev, but not Bhagat Farid. Notably it does not contain all
the Shabads of Guru Nanak .

The Adi Granth

By the period of the fifth Guru - Guru Arjan , jealousy had
grown amongst the Sikh disciples - particularly sparked by his elder
brother Bhai Prithi Chand who had claimed ascension to the spiritual
throne over Guru Arjan . Bhai Prithi Chand had allegedly
composed his own Bani - some of it a corrupted version of previous
Gurus' Bani - in an attempt to claim authenticity. As a result of
this, in the year 1603, Guru Arjan sought to update the
collection of Bani.

The Guru erected a tent by the side of the Harimandir Sahib - which
was then under construction and called for Bhai Gurdas - a renown and
respected Sikh scholar - for the purposes of scribing this new
version. The Guru called for all previous Pothis to be submitted to
him in the interests of the task at hand. The spot where this Pothi
was compiled is marked today by Ramsar.

It is said that when the Guru sent messengers to Bhai Mohan -
possessor of the previous Pothi, the latter was in deep meditation and
did not wish to be disturbed. Every time the representatives returned
to Bhai Mohan, he was found to be sitting in meditation and hence they
returned in dismay. Bhai Mohan is said to be a very devout Sikh of
positive character and good spiritual prowess. The Guru then decided
upon visiting the Sikh personally. On that occasion he sang a shabad
outside the door of Bhai Mohan - thereby awakening the Sikh out of his
meditation, it was thus that the Guru acquired the Mohan Pothis.

This compilation was the most complete to date and added to it were
the compositions of Bhagat Farid. This version became known as the Adi
Granth. A ceremony was performed on the occasion when the Holy Granth
Sahib was completed in the August of 1604 - It coincided with the
completion of the Gurudwara - Harimandir Sahib. On that day, the Guru
placed the Holy Granth Sahib on a Gadi (seat) that he would normally
sit on and himself sat on a Gadi lower to that. Baba Buda was made the
first Granthi (Custodian of the holy Granth) and the honorary position
of Granthi remained in his family for some generations as it was
passed from son to son.

At that time, the emperor of Hindustan was Akbar, he received
complaints alleging that the fifth Guru had compiled a Holy Book which
was detrimental - not only to the Hindu faith, but to Islam also.
Emperor Akbar asked that the Guru appear before him to answer these
complaints. The Guru however sent Baba Buda and Bhai Gurdas to answer
the Emperor. The Emperor - who it is said was more liberal in his
views of contemporary religions than other emperors - asked that such
passages from the holy Granth be read to him as might convince him
that the content of the Granth was not offensive. Baba Buda then read
shabads from the Holy Granth that had been compiled by Bhagat Kabir
and Bhagat Farid.

Akbar was pleased with the content which embraced an acceptance of God
in Hinduism and Islam. He presented two Gold Mohars to the scripture
and presented robes for the two representatives and a robe for the
Guru. The Emperor later visited the Guru during a tour of the states.

The Damdama Granth

When Guru Gobind Singh was enthroned, he wished to complete the final
version of this Granth and therefore, he compiled another version. On
that occasion, the Guru added the Shabads of his father - Guru Teg
Bahadar and one Salok (couplet) of his own. Before the tenth Guru
passed away, he bestowed this version of the Granth as the final and
everlasting Guru. It became known as the Guru Granth Sahib.